The gun totin' boys at the Broxton Bridge Plantation hunting ground were planning on having themselves a good old fashioned pigeon hunt. South Carolina's unfortunately named S.H.A.R.K. animal rights group planned to expose them via aerial drone. Guess what happened.

The Times and Democrat reports that once the hopeful hunters knew they were going to be watched from above, they started to leave the private shooting plantation. SHARK decided to send up their drone anyway—above a group of cranky firearm-wielding southerners. Big mistake, SHARK. Their drone was quickly shot out of the sky:

"Seconds after it hit the air, numerous shots rang out," [SHARK leader] Hindi said in the release. "As an act of revenge for us shutting down the pigeon slaughter, they had shot down our copter." He claimed the shooters were "in tree cover" and "fled the scene on small motorized vehicles."

From the photos of the drone we've obtained, it looks like the damage was pretty light—though drones are very sensitive machines, and even a helicopter can be downed with small arms fire. Does this at least provide a possible explanation for the drone we lost over Iran? Are there pigeon hunts there? [The T and D]